In the 1990 Giro, a relatively unknown cyclist named Gianni Bugno lit the cycling world on fire by winning the first stage, thereby taking the Maglia Rossa. That wasn’t so surprising in itself; what was surprising was that the little bugger managed to hold the jersey all the way to Milan, a feat previously only accomplished by Binda and Merckx postwar, and prewar legend Costante Girardengo.
This all happened in the age before smartphones and social media; while these days a stealth strike on the World’s Most Wanted Dude gets live-tweeted, in 1990 it took until well after I knew Greg LeMond had won the Tour de France before I found out that Bugno had won the Giro. Reading about the feat in Winning magazine, Bugno instantly became one of my heros and went on to cast himself into a bronze statue of Rad by being one of the few riders able to challenge Indurain in the following years. (He also possessed the mental frailty that seems to be common among my favorite riders. There’s something Shakespearean about heros with flaws that I simply can’t resist.)
The Giro d’Italia is just prestigious enough to be the maker of champions. It’s isn’t made up of a downgraded field like the Vuelta, but it also ins’t as popular as the Tour where only the best riders on the best teams seem to stand a chance. Every Giro produces a revelation that goes onto great things; that’s one of the key reasons this is my favorite Grand Tour: the field is strong enough to have serious contenders, but weak enough to let an outsider play. It’s perfect.
Aside from a well-balanced field, the geography of Italy lends itself to a better three week race than do France or Spain. Many European companies are defined by natural borders such as mountains or water, which generally means the mountains and great bodies of water lie at the borders with plains in between. (Or, as is the case with the Netherlands, beneath.) Italy is unique in that it is narrow and has mountainous terrain in nearly every region. Whereas the first week(s) of the Tour and Vuelta feature mostly flat stages suited for the sprinters and little else, the Giro’s first week generally contains several mountaintop finishes. The difficulty of a typical Giro’s first week means that riders who ride strongly there typically fade towards the end, while riders who were weak on the first climbs may come on strong as the race closes down. The result is a tight race from start to finish with regular changes in leadership. Except in 1990. And whatever years those other three guys who did what Gianni did.
This year’s Giro will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy by making strong men cry. Forty major climbs, and 7 mountain top finishes, one of which involves climbing Mount Etna twice. (Welcome to Sicily, assholes. You get to ride up the most active volcano on Earth twice.) I have it on the excellent authority of a man down the pub that Contador is stocking up on extra drugs even as I write this in an attempt to quiet the rattle of his skinny little bones in his spanish boots.
With that we kick off the best Grand Tour of the year, and the first test of our Grand Tour VSP Software. The other VSP editions have been a piece of cake. Grand Tours include free “swapping of the picks” logic whenever a rider in a contestent’s pick list drops out. We have rest day swaps for 2 or 4 points each, depending on which rest day it is. Our system is supposed to handle all of this smoothly and seamlessly. We’ll see.
Read the scoring guidelines, work out your strategy, dope up on clairvoyance drugs (alcohol) and chuck your picks up. As usual, the winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. If you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. You are eligible to swap picks at no penalty for your picked riders who drop out; rest day picks each come at a 2 point penalty for the first rest day, 4 points each for the second.
Good luck.
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View Comments
@Joe
Craven-dish: funny on Cipo's blog he calls Cav a little porky and that his season so far was shat because of some extra kilos. Cav should try some Spanish steaks. I hear Bertie has the hook up.
Re: ToC, there is a healthy dose of rule number 5 to be dished out there. This is the Pro-Conti team's chance to be dishing out the hurt and it just ain't happening.
Cippo's quotes are usually good because not only are they Cippo's and funny but spot-on as well. I reckon he's eating his words a bit after today's stage. On second thought, no I don't, he'd never reconsider. However, his latest musings are funny, but not spot on. Maybe Cav's success is starting to eat away at Cippo a bit. He'll never get as many Giro stages as Super Mario but he's on his way to equal/best his palmares as far as sprint stages in GT's go.
The question is, will he ever win MSR again or have the opportunity to contest the W.C. on a sprinter's course. Merckx forbid he should ever make the transition from sprinter to rouleur.
Cav's post race comments were professional and sportsman-like today. And I for one think it's cool he's racing in Italy right now as opposed to California.
Perhaps this is a coming out of sorts but I'm more in the Cavenisacoolbikeracerdish camp now than the Cavendoosh camp. He still needs work on his salute though.
From VeloNews on Cav bowing out of the Giro after today's win:
"Cycling legend Eddy Merckx appeared on the post-stage show on RAI TV and implored Cavendish to stay in the race a few more days to improve his climbing skills. Cavendish just shook his head and said he's heading home."
Merckx then climbed onto an old Italian 3-speed cruiser with fenders and finished the entirety of the rest of Giro in time for his evening espresso.
@roadslave
I am loving the ToC. However, I am bit biased being from CA and having gone to at least one stage of the race for the past three years. After the stage to sac Chris Horner was outside the bus mixing it with the fans, it was great and I hope he can keep the jersey. And Taylor Phinney is huge! Also, I was able to meet Ted King, class act. Many of the Euro pros didn't seem to have much time for fans (A. Schleck and O Freire included) with the exception of Matt Goss who held up his team bus taking pics with fans. B. Eisel was tapping on the team bus' glass t try and get his attention. Having three consecutive mountain days in the Giro and having the ToC guys tackle Mt. Baldy on Saturday is going to be a real treat.
@ramenvelo - very envious, mate... you lucky dog.
@pakrat... I think Horner is being pretty punchy... he's 39 fer crissakes! Hell of a climb on Sierra Road though [although, climber of the day for me was Mr. Nobody - Rory Sutherland... not at all phased by mixing it with Andy Schleck and Eggtimer...] God I hope he's clean... but c'mon: apart from AC noone can touch me... I seem to remember a certain golfer saying 'Its just Tiger and me, and then there's the rest'... and then everyone went and dicked all over him for the next year (can't remember his name - Irish chap? English?)... Roll on Baldy!
@Seth! funny!
Is it me, or is Matt Goss looking chubby? certainly a little more portly than back at Milan San Remo, and it might explain why he can't win...
@roadslave
It's Cippo's job to make those calls. You're over stepping a bit.
@Jarvis
Agree in part and disagree - IMHO Horner's problems of "dodgy teams" and being "overlooked", is that he spent 5 of what would have been his "peak" seasons dominating races in the States when he could have/should have been racing in Europe.
On his return to the Continent, he was only ever going to be a super-domestique. The bloke missed his chance to carve out a leader's role for himself by staying (hiding?) in the States... On his return (Saunier Duval?) he had to effectively re-start from scratch at a pretty ripe old age.
Look forward to hearing from all you patriotic Americans very shortly.
@Marcus
I think he was complaining about this last year as well so I looked into it. I would agree on your take.
taking a look at the Giro standings, presuming Petacchi follows Cav's lead and abandons, Contador will have the lead in GC, points and be coming second in the mountains classification.
Could he take home all 3?????